HOPATCONG — Between new classroom initiatives, pending renovations and several key staffing appointments that are about to come due, the coming year will represent a pivotal juncture for the Hopatcong School District Board of Education. Candidates met with local voters Tuesday to hash out platform differences and field questions about what the future may hold.

Incumbents Robert Nicholson, Sarah Schindelar and Peter Karpiak are seeking re-election to three, three-year terms on the board.

They are being challenged by Scott Francis, Erin Jacobus and Pedro Godoy. Nicholson, Francis and Jacobus are running on the same ticket, as are Schindelar and Karpiak.

Four of the six candidates -- Nicholson, Jacobus, Godoy and Francis -- participated in Tuesday's "meet the candidates" event, hosted at the senior center by the Hopatcong Democrats and attended by about 25 residents, including past and present school board members.

"We have a cohesive board that does work together even though we disagree at times," said Nicholson, the only incumbent candidate to appear at the meeting. "A lot of change has come to our district over the last three years, but there is still a lot of work to do.

"We have to find a new superintendent. That's number one. Next year, we will also be losing our acting business administrator. It's going to be up to the voters this year to decide which candidates will be the best ones to make those decisions."

As is true for many districts across the region, budget issues and school spending have been a point of heated debate in the borough for many years.

Last year's $38 million budget represented a 1 percent decrease in the tax rate. Of the nine-member board in place at the time it was passed, only Nicholson voted to reject it.

"I knew that we were going to be facing a serious funding cut from the state, and so I voted with that information in mind," he said.

"We don't know what next year will bring. I'm willing to sit with anyone on a board who would be able to make these hard decisions as we move along. I'm not afraid to speak out, and I'm not afraid to speak up. If something needs to get done, I will do it. I stand by that vote and still think it was the right move to make based on the information that we had at the time."

Godoy, a strategic finance integration director for SGS North America, said that the board should strive to reach its budget decisions while "moving in lockstep with the town council in terms of future growth plans."

"I think any discussion about the budget, whether to increase or decrease, has to have some root in a strategic plan," Godoy said. "You have to have investments that you want to make and things that you want to improve. The budget ought to be driven by those goals. In terms of taxes, they are going to land where they are going to land.

"To me, it isn't really about taxes. The question I have is that if we had 2,600 students 10 years ago, and we have 1,500 now, why aren't we looking at a huge surplus? We have increased our budget by $2 million in that time span, but our student enrollment has drastically declined. There is definitely a math problem there."

When asked if he would support a tax increase if the need should arise, Godoy said that the board should consider addressing the district's current shortcomings before resorting to extra spending.

"Our test scores, and I'm sorry, but this is how people are measured, have declined," he said. "So somewhere along the line here, we are failing our kids.

"Whether it's the curriculum that is governed by PARCC testing or what have you, we are continuously being barraged by a series of abysmal and declining test scores in the face of an ever-increasing per pupil cost. So, the money is going somewhere, and in my opinion, it's not going to benefit the students. Why are our kids not succeeding in the face of all of this money that's already sitting out there?"

Francis and Jacobus, both parents with students in the district, are running with Nicholson under a unified "One Hopatcong" campaign platform.

"It is not the job of the board to reward the taxpayers with dividends," Jacobus said. "We need to worry about how to keep our students interested and engaged, and how to make our parents want to keep their children in this district. If we are able to maintain our current curriculum and supplement it with new courses and programs, the problem of student retention should resolve itself.

"Until we are at the point where all of our facilities and buildings are held to highest possible standards, and the students have access to every possible resource that they will need to succeed, we should not be talking about tax breaks and reimbursements."

Francis, who has worked as a financial adviser for 15 years, said that his interest in the school board began during the final hearing for the 2017 budget.

"The one thing that I found from that one presentation was a very serious lack of respect coming from the business administrator out to the parents, and in some cases, back in the other direction," he said.

"We have to be able to communicate better. When people understand what's going on, tempers calm down and things can actually get done. I'm telling you right now -- I am not a lifer. I am running for a three-year term because I have kids in this district, and I think it's important I do what I can to help bring a fresh perspective to this board. I don't think you can have the same people sitting in these positions for years and years. It's important to change it up, and bring in a fresh set of eyes once in a while. That's what I am, and that's what I'm here to do."

During the 2016 election season, a grassroots organization known as the Concerned Citizens for a Better Hopatcong Education came under some measure of public scrutiny when it was revealed that six out of the nine current board members were in some way affiliated with the group.

Last year, the group elected to support candidates Warren Gallagher and Alex McLean because of their professional backgrounds in finance and business.

When candidates were asked on Tuesday night if they had any connection to the organization, only Godoy answered in the affirmative.

"I'll take anyone's check, I'm sorry," he said. "I have my own mind, and I do my own research. I am not ashamed to say that the Concerned Citizens have supported me with funds, but I am running my own campaign and I have my own thought process. I will vote with my own conscience, and it will always lead me in the best direction for the kids."

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